Dr. Michael Suess

A freelance technology consultant from Leipzig, Germany. Worked in various tech-roles as developer, manager, director, VP and CTO, for example for the market leader in Fleet Management Solutions in Europe (Webfleet). Excited about products, technology, leadership, mobility, AI and lots of other things that I might write about here.

A roller coaster
Startups

Coping with the roller coaster

I am the kind of person who likes riding on roller coasters. I like it when adrenaline rushes through my body after the long way up. But I did not expect me being a Freelancer to be similar in many ways to riding on a roller coaster. This article explains some similarities I see – […]

YellowFox, TACHOFresh and Verizon Connect
Fleet Management, M&A

M&A-Activity in the European Fleet Space

After months of silence, the European fleet management industry witnessed three major deals in October – signaling a potential shift in market dynamics. YellowFox has found a new owner with Peter Möhrle. TACHOfresh was bought by Kienzle. And last but not least: Verizon Connect sold its international commercial operations to Geotab, while retaining its U.S.

FMS Complexity
Fleet Management, M&A

The Fleet Management Paradox: Why Complexity Creates Value

Just yesterday, an announcement was published that has created some waves in the the fleet management industry: Geotab Acquires Verizon Connect’s International Commercial Operations. This is the first major acquisition from the market leader in Fleet Management – and at the same time a realization from Verizon that Fleet Management is difficult to master, especially

Virtual Fleet Assistant
AI, Fleet Management

Lessons Learned from Building a Virtual “Talk to Your Fleet”-Agent with n8n, Large Language Models and WEBFLEET.connect

I have written about AI Agents in the fleet management space before, and now I’ve built one myself. In just a few hours with n8n and modern LLMs, I created a functional agent that can query fleet data, make (reasonably 😉) intelligent decisions, and even direct my demo-fleet via text-messages. This post shares what it

Roadmap
Engineering

The difference between a wishlist and a roadmap

I have seen countless “roadmaps” in my career that were not much more than glorified wishlists. Pretty documents filled with ambitious ideas, but lacking the fundamental ingredients that transform hope into execution. After years of watching teams struggle with this distinction, I have come to realize there are three critical differences that separate real roadmaps

Following a plan vs. responding to change
agile

Responding to change over following a plan

When I hear or overhear people’s conversations on being agile, sometimes the Agile Manifesto comes up. It contains the line cited above. I am amazed how often this quote is understood as “being agile means we don’t need to plan”. Up to the point where people use “we will do this project in agile mode”

Engineering Leadership needs help
Engineering, Leadership

5 Signs Your Tech-Leadership Team Needs Help

Every tech organization faces challenges as it grows. What starts as a speedy team delivering features quickly can gradually transform into something that feels slow, opaque, and frustrating. This is normal to a certain extent – and also not dangerous when it is recognized and tackled by the responsible tech-leaders in a timely manner. The

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